Police detect frozen tiger in central Vietnam

Four frozen tiger cubs found in the northern province of Nam Dinh in May. Photo provided by police.

The dead tiger weighs as much as 120 kilograms.

Police in the central province of Ha Tinh said on Friday they found a tiger carcass in a house of a local man.

The 120kg dead tiger was stored in an ice box in the house belonging to Nguyen Van Thanh from the mountainous commune of Huong Son.

The police have seized the carcass for further investigations.

In October, police in another central province of Nghe An also seized a tiger carcass, a tiger skin and a tiger head, which were all frozen and weighed 64 kilograms in total.

The most common use of tigers in Vietnam is to make tiger bone medicine, a form of traditional medicine used for the treatment of bone or joint-related ailments.

The tiger bones are boiled down until they form a glue-like substance, which is then dried in cake-like blocks and sold at around VND20 million ($880) per 0.1 kilogram.

However, no scientific basis in this medicine has been found, according to experts.

Locally-based conservation group Education for Nature-Vietnam estimated that from 2006 to September this year, the organization has investigated 971 cases of trading, transporting, selling and advertising tigers or tiger products. They have helped rescue 14 live tigers and confiscated 69 dead tigers.